


I Wish I Didn't Need (You)

by rainforestgeek



Series: Why are you my remedy? [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Allura/Lance (Voltron) - Freeform, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Lance (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Pining, Pining Pidge | Katie Holt, Season/Series 08, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22171444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainforestgeek/pseuds/rainforestgeek
Summary: On the Castle, the team occasionally took turns dragging Pidge from her work station to her bunk. On the Atlas, Lance found her again working late into the night - but in slightly worse shape than she'd been all those other times.Drabble during season 8. The pairing is Plance, but he's still officially with Allura, though she doesn't make an appearance.
Relationships: Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt
Series: Why are you my remedy? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1598608
Comments: 8
Kudos: 40





	I Wish I Didn't Need (You)

Lance found Pidge in the mess hall with her laptop (surprise, surprise) and a standard-issue Garrison mug. It was steaming, so Lance was willing to bet she had some kind of coffee in there. She wasn't even in pajamas, just sitting there with her owl eyes and customized green uniform.

It's not that he'd been looking for her. He was taking a walk. Late at night. When they both should really be sleeping. Which is why, once he spotted her, it was Lance's paladin duty as a teammate to get Pidge to bed and asleep. He came up behind her and leaned over.

"Whatever you're working on can wait 'till tomorrow."

Pidge started, but like...in slow motion. Her breath hitched, her fingers scattered over the keys, her head lolled back to look at him. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"I won't wait, there's a war. Kind of. Universe in turmoil." She turned her attention back to the screen and took a deep swig of her drink. Upon closer inspection, Lance realized it wasn't coffee but hot chocolate.

He shook her shoulder lightly. "Come on, you we need you at 100%, so let's get you to sleep."

She raised her eyebrows at him. Usually it was just one eyebrow, and the effect of both at once dampened the effect of her stare.

Lance tried again. "It's almost 1 AM, Pidge."

"Hnguh? No." Pidge squinted at the screen. Her body swayed slightly in her seat and she glared at the numbers for a solid thirty seconds like they hid the secrets to the universe. Or like she'd forgotten how to read. Lance picked up the mug without her noticing. Another sign something was wrong. He brought it to his face and inhaled.

"Pidge, how much Irish cream did you put in this hot chocolate?"

"Nunvil damn business."

Lance leaned in to smell her breath. Her eyes drifted shut behind her skewed glasses. Her warm breath puffed over his face, blasting him in the scent of cocoa and alcohol. He retreated then placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. To his shock, she nuzzled her face onto his hand.

"Look, I'll make you a deal. Go to bed and I won't tell your family you were downing booze in public."

She grumbled that the Atlas was hardly public, but whatever. The mess was communal space on the ship, therefore it was public enough for Lance. Pidge closed her laptop and stood up but her knees wobbled. He caught her as she fell over. Ignoring her half-hearted, bleary protests, Lance scooped her up under the knees, leaned her head on his shoulder, and hoisted her in his arms. Pidge was heavy for someone so tiny. She was all sharp bones and wiry muscles; despite all that she did her best impression of a cute and cuddly teddy bear. She was pretty successful.

Pidge muttered into his neck the whole walk to her quarters. He couldn't understand a single word. He was pretty sure some of it was Italian and Altean.

In front of her door, he jostled her gently. "Whassgone?"

"What's your room keycode?"

"Lemme type it in."

"Sure, if you think you have the hand-eye coordination for it, go ahead."

She reached out and pressed imaginary buttons on the wall. She sighed. "4287653."

This room was cleaner than her quarters on board the Castle of Lions had been. Having your mother around all the time will do that to a person. He thanked Colleen and Sam when he didn't trip over any junk walking from the door to her bunk. A couple of her old trash sculptures remained, though, and that made him smile.

Pidge grinned sleepily at him while he unlaced her boots and pulled them off. Lance found a bottle of water then sat next to her. "Come on, up you get."

He guided her into a semi-upright seated position with on hand on her back and cracked open the bottle. "Drink it all." She didn't even argue. How wasted was she?

When she'd drunk it all, Pidge gripped the front of his hoodie. "Lance. Lance."

"Yeah?" Her face was like five centimeters away from his and he could count every freckle if he wanted to. _Which he didn't._ Because he had the girl of his dreams asleep down the hall. He couldn't put space between them, though - her hands were like iron.

"Do you know I love you?"

He laughed lightly. "I know. We're teammates, comrades-in-arms. I love you too, Pidge."

Her eyes seemed to twinkle. She leaned forward. He leaned back. Was that...did she just try to _kiss him?_

"Hey. You're wasted and I'm taken. Let's just get you to sleep, okay?" He carefully lowered her back to the bed and extracted himself from her loosened grip. He spread a throw blanket over her. Then he turned off the light, and did his best to walk out of the room instead of run.

He'd backed away. He'd been faithful. If he did the right thing, why did leaving hurt so much?

As much as he hated to, Lance admitted to himself this was the first time he'd felt really wanted in a long time. Allura needed him, sure. So did the rest of the team. But one of his best friends had to get hammered before she made him feel _wanted_ again. How messed up was that? What kind of dirtbag was he to itch to reach out to Pidge when she was at her most vulnerable?

Lance went back to the mess to dispose of the boozy cup and grab Pidge's computer before anyone could steal it. He'd give it back to her tomorrow. 


End file.
